Dubai: Martin Kaymer is hoping to bounce back from this year’s meltdown at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and emerge with his fourth Falcon Trophy when the event is held again from January 21-24, 2016.
The 30-year-old German was cruising towards a fourth title this year when he was 10 strokes clear by the fourth hole of his final round. But he then dropped six shots in seven holes on the back nine allowing France’s Gary Staal to overtake him. And instead of winning, Kaymer only equalled the European Tour’s record for biggest lead lost.
Despite the implosion, Kaymer said the National Course — where he holds the record for most wins with victories in 2008, 2010 and 2011 — doesn’t hold bittersweet memories.
“It’s not a mixed bag at all,” he told press on the sidelines of the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates last weekend. “I know people say that, but I don’t feel it. It really feels like my second home. Abu Dhabi is where I had my first tournament victory and where my carer really started. Even with what happened this year, I still have 90-95 per cent good memories.
“Those last two hours of playing on the Sunday, I thought a lot about it that night and on the Monday. I talked a lot about it with my brother, my dad and a couple of other people. We figured out what the reasons were and it was all good, so I don’t worry too much about it. It was a great experience. It also could have happened anywhere, but it happened in Abu Dhabi. And I’m glad it did because it was the beginning of the season and it was a great learning curve.
“Seeing it from a positive perspective, I played great golf and a lot of new things happened in a pressure situation. It was a lot to handle for me and the focus got away from golf, but it wasn’t my fault. Things like this that I’ve never experienced, I learn from them so I saw Abu Dhabi — even though I didn’t win — as a very successful event.”
Asked how he felt about next year’s tournament, he replied: “I feel very positive. I’m going to be very ready this year again as I’m going to have a big practice winter ahead of me because it’s going to be a very important year next year, with the Olympic Games and the Ryder Cup.
“Abu Dhabi will be the first test to see if my work in the winter was proper or not, and the way that I’ve played in Abu Dhabi in the past was always very satisfying for me. So, it could be a great combination of good hard practice in winter and getting motivation for the whole season in Abu Dhabi if I do well there.
“If I could choose a tournament, of course I’d like to go there every single week because it really fits my eye, but that doesn’t mean that I will win there every week,” he added.
